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Communications and IT budgets advance as county moves forward on tower projects and considers new remote-management tools
Summary
Staff updated reviewers on tower permits, tree‑cutting windows tied to endangered‑bat restrictions, backup power and battery runtimes for new tower sites, and IT plans including a proposed remote management monitoring (RMM) tool and endpoint security changes. The communications budget was approved in the meeting.
County communications and IT staff reported progress on tower construction, equipment and leasing plans, and proposed IT purchases during the budget review. Reviewers approved the communications budget by voice vote.
On tower projects: a communications presenter said, “Everything’s been approved. Georgetown Phippsburg’s been approved.” The presenter noted an outstanding permit from IF&W tied to two endangered bat species at one site and said email correspondence from the state and the county’s consultant indicates the permit is unlikely to prevent work. The presenter added the county signed an agreement allowing tree cutting before April 15 (to avoid bat season running April 15 to Oct. 15 at that site). The presenter said the landowner easement allows tree removal before the bat season “if this permit for some reason doesn’t come through.”
Staff discussed site outfitting details: generators are 12 kW units; tanks are 100 gallons; the new radio system will use batteries with AC charging and a reported runtime of about 6 to 12 hours depending on usage, supplemented by generator runtime. Installation at sites was described as awaiting fence, generator and propane tank work before equipment installation.
On leasing and carriers: staff said the county is not actively marketing tower lease space until systems are online but noted partnerships with FirstNet/AT&T and potential interest from T-Mobile or U.S. Cellular customers in some towns.
On recurring communications costs: staff said mobile data terminal connections for cruisers are recurring costs “through AT&T FirstNet,” and a figure of about $20,000 was discussed for those recurring costs.
IT operations and software: the county’s IT presenter said the inventory shows roughly 60–65 endpoints (laptops, sheriff’s MDTs, desktops) and that current backup practice relies on in-house servers with external hard drives stored on-site; OneDrive and SharePoint are used by staff. The presenter described a proposal for an RMM (remote monitoring and management) tool bundled with SentinelOne endpoint security to replace the county’s current Trend Micro deployment. The RMM was described as the only new software line in that software package; staff said upgrading Microsoft licensing to Intune Plan 2 was cost-prohibitive and that a lower‑cost RMM option would be pursued.
On servers and cloud: staff said the county maintains about 14 servers, six of which are physical, and explained the cost trade-offs of moving servers to the cloud. An early, rough AWS estimate for hosting one physical server with five VMs was described at about $2,200 per month; staff noted cloud costs would rise if the county moved multiple servers and that best practice would also keep redundancy on-site, adding to cost.
Why it matters: the communications upgrades affect public‑safety radios, vehicle data, and emergency communications in towns that currently have limited cellular coverage. IT purchases and backup strategy affect continuity of operations and cybersecurity posture.
What’s next: the communications budget was accepted and staff will continue permitting and site work; the IT RMM proposal will be pursued as a lower-cost option than a Microsoft E5 license and could include a phased move to SentinelOne for endpoint protection.
